Chapter 1: The Hotel

The drive was long and I thought that there was no way we were going to reach Montana. The old mini van was once again on one of its epic adventures with the family. I stared out the window seeing nothing but grass. Grass, grass and more grass. It had been about six hours since we had left our nice cozy home in California to see the Treasure State. I sat in the car listening to my iPod, feeling my legs cramp up because I honestly can’t remember the last time I got out of the car and stretched. I looked at my mom and she was singing and dancing to music on the radio. Brittany sat next to me, staring at my mom, shaking her head in embarrassment. At last, I saw a sign that said “WELCOME TO MONTANA”. I had never been so glad in my life to see a sign. It meant that I was going to see civilization once again! We drove a couple more miles until we saw a sign that read “NEED A GREAT HOTEL? TURN LEFT IN FOURTEEN MILES” “Seems nice.” Mom said. “Nice and peaceful right outside of a town. No one can bother us.” “I’ll see if there’s vacancy.” Randy said. “Lets keep driving. It said fourteen miles right?” “Yes honey.” Mom said and Randy kept driving. After fourteen miles, we turned left onto a dirt road that led to the woods. Not far beyond the woods, lay a wooden hotel. It looked more like a cabin. There were only two other cars in the parking lot besides ours. We got out of the car and walked inside. There was a tall, slim man standing behind the counter. He didn’t look up at us until we sat down. “Hello,” he said happily. “Welcome to the Great Expectations Hotel. Is there anything I can do for you?” “We would like to know if you have any vacancies.” Randy said. “Why yes we do.” he said. “There is another family here too. I think they have kids your age.” He looked at Brittany and me. I stared at his dirty face and beard that was too much maintenance for him to handle. “Not a lot of folks come out here because they would rather stay in the city. But it’s nice out here. There’s no noise, which makes it very peaceful.” “Count us in.” Randy said. “Good. Here is your room key. Room 14.” he said and handed us a key.